Attorney General Moody’s Prosecutors Announce Scathing Indictment of Biden’s Immigration Policies

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody announced the release of the Fifth Presentment of the Twenty-First Statewide Grand Jury. The presentment is a scathing indictment of President Biden’s failure to secure the U.S. Southwest border, resulting in millions of inadmissible immigrants entering the country and tens of thousands of children being smuggled into the country. The report outlines how U.S.-funded, non-governmental organizations instigate the increase of migrants attempting to cross the border and uncovers weaknesses drug cartels exploit in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s CFB One mobile phone app. The app is designed to give migrants border crossing appointments, but testimony to the Statewide Grand Jury showed how the app makes it easier for cartels to profit from smuggling individuals into the country. 

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “This is a damning indictment of the Biden administration’s complete failure to protect our border and the tens of thousands of immigrant children being smuggled into our country and in some instances, trafficked. Not only is the administration jeopardizing the safety of unaccompanied minor children—they are letting terrorists and immigrants from countries of concern into the interior of the U.S. I want to thank the members of the Statewide Grand Jury for their dogged pursuit of the truth and for bringing to light how the Biden administration’s dangerous immigration policies are harming vulnerable populations.”

The latest report continues to show how Biden’s immigration policies are causing the historic surge of individuals at the Southwest border. According to the Statewide Grand Jury’s findings, during fiscal year 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol encountered more than 3 million aliens and denied entry to only a third of the group. This number is roughly equivalent to the number of children born in America during the same period of time.

Of the 3 million migrants, CBP refused entry to around 1 million and released more than 900,000 individuals to await court hearings. The report indicates 700,000 entered the country illegally but got away from law enforcement, 140,000 are unaccompanied alien children released into the interior and more than 400,000 arrived by being flown directly or transported across the border via use of the CBP One app or other parole programs.

According to the Grand Jury’s presentment, close to 1 million individuals currently residing in Florida are here in the country illegally.

The Grand Jury found that between October 2022 to August 2023, more than 75,000 Special Interest Aliens entered the country. SIAs are aliens that come from countries where terrorist groups are prevalent. Last year, more than 50,000 Chinese migrants crossed the border, a 1,300% increase over the previous year.

The presentment states: “Absent the overheated rhetoric from all political angles, the situation truly is not complicated; individuals from other countries are enticed to come to this country, the overwhelming majority with no plausible claim to asylum whatsoever, and serious harm results on both sides of our border as the situation is exploited for crime and profit by cartels, funding by NGOs, and political clout-chasing by others. All the while, we and our fellow taxpayers pick up the tab.”

The Grand Jury found that up to 70% of U.S. funding given to NGOs to take care of released aliens is being spent on administrative expenses and not actual alien services. The presentment outlines how NGOs are incentivized to increase the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S. to benefit the groups’ bottom lines. However, the Grand Jury found that not only are NGOs and transnational criminal organizations profiting from the surge of illegal immigration, but Central American counties are as well, selling bus rides and tours to quickly move illegal immigrants toward the U.S. border.

In addition to an increasing flow of inadmissible immigrants to the border, smaller numbers of aliens are being deported. According to the presentment, CBP removed or deported only 300,000 inadmissible migrants from May to September of this year. Immigration courts resolved 669,011 cases while receiving more than 1.4 million new cases—there are currently 2 million active cases. The graph below illustrates this.

The mass influx of inadmissible immigrants makes it difficult for routine functions, leading to an increased public safety threat. The Grand Jury outlined testimony that showed that Border Patrol apprehended and screened a migrant family in Arizona. Although one of the migrants showed up in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s system as a potential Terrorist Watchlist match, Border Patrol released the group. Several days later, the migrant and family members checked in to a flight to Tampa. During pre-flight screening, authorities confirmed the migrant is a positive Terrorist Watchlist match. However, border agents did not see the match flagged and released the migrant to board the flight. After waiting eight days to receive the alien’s file from Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement experienced additional delays before making an arrest in Florida due to the influx of immigration cases.

The report states that 280,000 aliens have been paroled into the U.S. at land border ports after scheduling crossing appointments with the CFB One mobile phone app, as of August 2023. Ninety-five percent received parole into the country. Of that total, only 136,000 came from one of the countries originally designated for use of the program—Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. More than 100,000 aliens came from 93 other countries. 

The presentment outlines how cartels are beginning to profit off of this app. The report states: "We also received testimony regarding the cartel’s ability to “hack” the CBP-One application by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). At one point, the Mexican government would turn away people attempting to enter the country, unless they had a CBP One appointment. Cartels would penetrate the app and use a VPN to allow users anywhere to “schedule their appointment, a/k/a their “transit visa through Mexico.” They also exploit it by selling off appointments to aliens seeking passage, proudly advertising their services on the internet and in migrant camps…It hasn’t stemmed the flow of illegal immigration; it’s actually helped the cartels…before the cartels had to have a robust operation in the United States as well, and now all they’ve got to do is drop them off at our front door.”

The presentment outlines the tragic stories of several unaccompanied alien children, given forged documents in order to obtain overnight employment in dangerous working conditions. Some of the children were injured, maimed or killed on the job. Additionally, the Grand Jury highlights a 1,300% increase in reports of trafficking to the U.S. Health and Human Services hotline over the past five years.

The Grand Jury also sent six subpoenas to three of Florida’s major banks and three of the several hundred money transfer organizations with locations in Florida. In a single-year period, there were 17 million transactions sending money outside of the U.S. with an aggregate value of $5.2 billion by those six institutions. There are only an estimated 4 million legal and illegal aliens in the state. The Grand Jury also uncovered troubling patterns of Venezuelan nationals sending money in equal installments over four weeks to remote areas of Mexico.

To view the Fifth Presentment of the Twenty-First Statewide Grand Jury Regarding Unaccompanied Alien Children, click here.

The statewide grand jury is still in session; therefore, proceedings remain confidential under 905.24 F.S.S.

# # #